


One Heart, a Thousand Lights

by SerStolas



Series: "Weapons" of the Heart [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adoption, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Parenthood, Past Childhood Trauma, Post Game, Post-Trespasser, Seriously the Qun is really abusive, The Qun, The Qun is not nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-03-11 15:24:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13527120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Post Trespasser, the Inquisition has transformed into a peace-keeping force.  Six months after the attempted Qunari Invasion, the Inquisition is called upon the help with the cleanup and Adaar and Cullen find themselves dealing with a situation that will alter their lives forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dragon Age belongs to Bioware.
> 
> This story is all [ZiaMae's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ZiaMae/pseuds/ZiaMae)fault

Rhea Adaar Rutherford scowled faintly at the milling crowd on the edges of the encampment as she rode into the center of the Inquisition camp. The entire encampment had been carefully laid out, with Inquisition forces on one side, the Chantry's tents in the center, and the forces of the local Duke on the far side. The Inquisition probably could have handled everything themselves, and prior to the Exalted Council they probably would have. Now, though, they needed to play nice even nicer with local forces, no matter how good or bad those local forces might be.

Rhea was glad it wasn't simply her headache to deal with. The Inquisition was run more or less by a small council now, rather than just her, made up mostly of prior Inquisition members and others vetted by the Chantry (specifically Divine Victoria) and the Inquisition. They were still a force existing outside of the rule of Fereldan and Orlais, for all those two countries fought their existence.

A great deal of her time after the Exalted Council had been consumed by paperwork and meetings, Rhea thought as she placed her right hand on the horn of her saddle and carefully dismounted. If she thought her life would have gotten simpler after the decision to transition to a peacekeeping force, she was wrong. While she might not be able to adventure anymore due to the loss of her arm, her workload hadn't lessened all that much.

The one pleasant thing that had come from her retirement from field duty had been more time spent with her husband. While Cullen was still Commander of the Inquisition forces, he'd been able to delicate more of his tasks within the past few months, so he didn't spent quite as many late evenings at his desk in the tower.

The word of a lingering Qunari force along the coast had frazzled Fereldan, not that Rhea was surprised. She liked King Alistair and believed he had a fairly good head on his shoulders, but some of his Banns were more than a little emptyheaded.

The local Teyrn Cousland, from Highever that bordered the Storm Coast seemed relatively sensible based on the reports that Rhea had received, and she counted that a blessing as she regarded the highly organized camp.

Rhea sighed and reached with her right hand to massage her sore neck as Cullen dismounted beside her and their mounts were taken away. Her shorter husband paused beside her and gently turned her so that he could reach her back and massaged her nec k and shoulders with both hands for a few moments while they waited for the Teyrn.

"Thank you," she murmured a dark haired human male made his way towards her and Cullen.

"For you, love, anything," Cullen replied with a smile before he turned to face the Teryn.

"Inquisitor Rutherford, Commander Rutherford," the Teryn greeted them both warmly and exchanged arm clasps with both, not looking the bit least uncomfortable that the Inquisitor was both a mage and a Vashoth, but then he'd had time to get used to the idea and semi-regular contact with the Inquisition after it's formation.

"Teryn Cousland," Rhea greeted him. "I wish we could have seen you under more pleasant circumstances. What's the word?"

"Straight to business then?" Fergus Cousland asked, and nodded in approval. "It appears that the Qunari here weren't an invasion force and have been in hiding for some time. In fact, at least one of my men suspects they weren't with the Qun at all."

Cullen frowned faintly as he detected a grim note in the Teryn's voice and exchanged a glance with Rhea. She nodded, indicating she'd heard it to.

Cullen felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. Still, he was a military professional. He considered the Teryn with a neutral expression. "What happened?" he asked.

Fergus Cousland sighed. "The Qunari we found were not warriors. One of my men served under King Alistair at one point and met the Qunari Sten who assisted in the Blight. From his estimation, these Qunari were trying to escape the Qun, not aid it." 

Rhea thought the man looked a little green around the gills. "Technically that would make them Tal-Vashoth, but you said they were not warriors."

Cousland shook his head, his expression sorrowful. "No, they weren't. Unfortunately most of the locals did not seem to care. As they are technically outside of my Teryn there is only so much I can do. We got here in time to intervene before they killed everyone."

Rhea felt herself go pale and heard Cullen's sharp intake of breath.

"How many survivors are there?" Rhea asked. Cousland said they weren't warriors. Please don't let there be children, she thought, Maker please.

"Three children, one Tamassran," Cousland replied, his tongue stumbling for a moment over the Qunlat word.

"Oh Maker," Rhea swore, swaying a moment. Cullen grasped her shoulder and steadied her.

"We've separated them from the locals and have kept them under guard since," Cousland continued. "Given the...delicacy of the situation, I did not think it wise to leave the four survivors in our care. The Inquisition, being a peacekeeping force, and outside of our jurisdiction, may have more luck dealing with the situation than us." His frown deepened. "There are a few more issues. Only the Tamassran speaks our tongue. There were ten youths originally, and another Tamassran. One of the surviving children's mouths is sewn shut. The girl can't be more than eight, even for a Qunari."

There was distaste in his words, as if he found the entire idea barbaric. 

It was.

Rhea nodded slowly. "She's a mage, a Saarebas, then." She felt a fine shutter run through her. "As you know, Teryn, I was not raised under the Qun. I am Vashoth. But had I been, my fate would have been similar." She clenched her right hand into a fist, missing again the left arm that had been removed off as a result of the Mark six months before. 

"I've heard rumors, yes," Cousland remarked, nodding slowly. "I was not so quick as some of my countryman to react advisely to a..Vashoth inquisitor, but then my sister is a Warden and fought alongside a Qunari during the Blight." He glanced between her and Cullen. "Can your Inquisition take charge of the survivors?"

Cullen saw the look in his wife's eyes and already knew what her answer would be.

He rubbed his forehead but responded, "Yes, Teryn, we can. They are probably better off with us than anyone else."

Rhea's face betrayed the faintest hint of her relief at his agreement. The rest of the Inquisition council may or may not agree, though she was sure Harding and Josephine would, but few would be willing to argue with Rhea over the decision, even now.

"Thank you," Teryn Cousland responded, looking relieved and relaxing slightly for the first time since the Inquisition had arrived. "Let me take you do them."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen and Adaar meet with the survivors and make arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dragon Age is owed by Bioware

Cullen could see the tension in his wife's shoulders as they made their way down the rocky path that lead to the temporary camp Teryn Cousland's forces had set up. The survivors were being guarded for their own safety after the massacre of the others. Fergus Cousland had reported that none of the fourt survivors had tried to escape once he'd explained the situation to the Tamassran. Cullen couldn't imagine what was going on in the woman's mind, dealing with seeing the children under her care slaughtered, and the other Tamassran killed.

The Teryn had told them he'd specifically mentioned to the Tamassran that he'd asked the Inquisition to come and help, and that it had seemed to ease some worry of the survivors.

Cullen wasn't entirely sure if it was a good or bad thing that Iron Bull wasn't here. He had more knowledge of the Qun than anyone else in the Inquisition, though Rhea knew about it from the stories her parents had told, and things she'd learned from Bull. Hopefully it would be enough to connect with the Tamassran.

For all the tension radiating from her, Rhea strode forward with confidence. No matter how distraught or angry this whole incident might make her, Cullen knew his wife would hide those emotions behind a mask of confidence. People expected the Inquisitor to be able to solve things, she'd told him once.

As they approached, he saw another female Qunari step out of a tent, her dark hair in a single plait down her back, gray skin a few shades darker than his wife's. The Qunari's expression was impassive as Rhea and Cullen passed through the camp's perimeter and approached her. 

"So you're the Inquisitor," the Qunari woman said, meeting Rhea's gaze with a serious, unblinking stare.

"I am, Tamassran," Rhea replied formally, meeting the woman's gaze just as steadily. Cullen stood at Rhea's side, but thought it best to let his wife handle this. "I understand you and the young were part of a larger group, one seeking to leave the Qun?"

The Tamassran nodded sharply. "We knew there was danger, but the fate of the children was not one myself and my companion agreed with, so we chose to flee and bring them to those shores. There were stories, of you, of the Iron Bull."

Cullen watched something flicker over his wife's expression, and something unspoken seemed to pass between the two women. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, since the only Qunari he'd ever really bothered to observe closely were Rhea and Iron Bull, but he thought that the Tamassran seemed slightly less tense than before.

"You chose a dangerous path, one you knew might cost the lives of all," Rhea said carefully.

"Better than living a life little better than a prison," the Tamassran replied.

Rhea's eyebrows shot up. "You were never content under the Qun. How many times did they send you for reconditioning?"

"Enough," the Tamassran replied. "They thought putting me under other Tamassran would cure any remaining ideas from my head. It only showed me more the cruelty. Their treatment of mages." The woman lifted her chin. "They think to keep us ignorant of the ways of the rest of the world, to make the rest of the world seem uncivilized and horrible, and the Qun the only true civilization and peace that one may have. There are those of us who hear things, though, and wonder. We came seeing freedom, and were met with death." The woman's brown eyes flickered to Cullen a moment, and then the ring he wore on his left hand, and the one Rhea wore on a chain around her neck. "But not all humans are cruel. Those who met us were, but those who saved us?"

"There are good people and evil people," Rhea shrugged. "The Inquisition can offer you and the children sanctuary."

"Will your Inquisition so easily accept three more Qunari?" the Tamassran asked. "There are rumors of your own treatment, in the beginning."

"You're well informed," Rhea noted wryly. 

"There are going to be those who question the wisdom of it," Cullen found himself saying, wanting to defend the organization he and his wife and the council had built. "There are going to be those that aren't welcoming. But there are also those who will defend you."

The Tamassran's brown eyes bore into him now. "Will you be one of those that defends us, Commander, or do you not trust me for my being part of the Qun once? I know of Kirkwall."

Cullen heaved a breath, making himself actually considered the question and the situation it came from, and not just who it came from. Rhea seemed to trust this Tamassran, and his wife had an uncanny ability to judge most people, ancient crazy elven gods not withstanding. This Tamassran had survived a potentially deadly voyage to make it to the Storm Coast, and then the deaths of several children in her care, but everything he'd been told by the Teryn and his people had said that this woman sought only to protect the children.

That alone said something about her character, though it reassured him to know that Harding would have her watched regardless.

Still, Cullen found himself smiling faintly. "I have learned that there is far more to Qunari, Vashoth, and Tal-Vashoth than what happened in Kirkwall, Tamassran," he addressed her, using the same term that Rhea had. Iron Bull had mentioned that while Qunari might get nicknames, they didn't have proper names in the Qun. He reached out and took Rhea's right hand in his own. "My experience in the Inquisition, and indeed my own wife, have taught me not to rush to judgement. You didn't have to stay with these children, but you did. If nothing else, you feel you have a duty to protect them. I think I can at least trust that."

The Tamassran regarded him a long moment, then nodded. "That is better than I expected, Commander." She glanced over her shoulder then and spoke a few words in Qunlat, and three figures moved within the tent and through the flap to stand beside her.

The oldest had literal holes in her lips, and Cullen realized this was from where the string used to tie her lips together had recently been removed. her red hair reminded him of Rhea, and she had clear amber colored eyes. Her eyes focused on Rhea specifically. Another Qunari child some inches shorter than the eight year old, with brown hair and eyes, came to stand at the Tamassran's other side. The final child, a toddler, Cullen thought, lifted his arms up to the Tamassran and the Tamassran picked him up, cradling him against her chest.

"These are the three," Tamassran said, watching Cullen and Rhea's expressions carefully. "Saarebas is eight, this one is 6," she indicated the brown haired girl on her other side. "And this one is 2," she nodded to the toddler in her arms.

"First thing they need proper names," Rhea frowned as she regarded the three. "I am not calling them by their Qun designations."

The Tamassran looked thoughtful at that suggestion. "I believe this may be a good idea, for them to live outside of the Qun, to separate them further from it."

"Lets get you three to the Inquisition camp," Rhea suggested. "And we can feed you and have our healers look over you, then discuss names, and transporting you back to Skyhold."

"As long as they will be safe," Tamassran said firmly.

Rhea smiled tightly. "I will do whatever I must to ensure it."

Rhea, Cullen thought, was already invested, and looking at the three weary children, Qunari though they might be, Cullen had a feeling he was too. "As will I," he added.

The Tamassran smiled for the first time since Cullen and Rhea had entered the camp. "Then let us go."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhea, Cullen, and the Inquisition's new charges travel back towards Skyhold, and Cullen finds that even after all their time together, Rhea continues to manage to turn his life upside down, not that he regrets it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Dragon Age.

Cullen's eyes snapped open as the wail of a child cut through the cool night air. He signed, slowly sitting up and getting his bearings. They were in the Inquisition camp, on day six of their journey back towards Skyhold proper. This wasn't the first night the frightened cries of a Qunari child had awoken him, and he rather doubted that it would be the last. The three Qunari children that Tamassran (she'd told Rhea bluntly that she herself would take no other name, for now, so Rhea had begun using the word as a name rather than a title) cared for had undergone several horrifying experiences over the past several months. The middle girl would whimper when she had nightmares, and clung readily to Tamassran when the Qunari woman attempted to comfort her.

The little boy wailed for a mother that he would never have, having been separated from whoever birthed him mere days after his birth, as per Qun custom, and there was only one Tamassran to care for three frightened children.

Cullen felt his wife sliding out from under their blankets in a practiced motion, pausing long enough to press a kiss to his cheek before she slipped from their tent. Since the third night of their journey, she'd been getting up and going to offer whatever help to Tamassran that she could with the children.

Cullen contemplated this for only a moment before he pulled on his boots and followed his wife. 

He made more noise than she did as they walked to the tent that Tamassran shared with the three children, but then Rhea hadn't bothered putting on shoes before leaving their tent.

As Cullen expected, they found all three children awaken with Tamassran. The eldest, the former Saarebas, watched with an eerie quiet, sitting in the corner of the tent she shared with the other three. Rhea had told him privately that she worried most for that one. The Qun was not kind to mages, and Rhea had quietly tended the eldest girl's lip wounds each day since the Qunari had joined the Inquisition under their protection. Sara, as Rhea had firmly taken to calling the girl when she'd not answered any attempts to get her to pick a name for herself, remained very controlled and unnaturally calm at all times. Both Tamassran and Rhea had told Cullen this was a result of the training and treatment the girl received under the Qun, and that it would be a very long time before, if ever, she opened up to anyone. For now they ensured that her material and health needs were met, and that she was treated gently. 

The middle girl was clinging to Tamassran's side as the Qunari woman held the little boy to her shoulder, trying to ease his cries.

Cullen's heart turned over painfully at the sight, at the fear in the eyes of the youngest two Qunari children, and the eerie quiet of the Sara. He followed Rhea's actions, settling on the ground beside Tamassran. The second girl lifted her trembling head from Tamassran's arm, wide brown eyes staring at Rhea for a long moment, before she dashed quickly between the two, throwing herself against Rhea. Cullen knew this wasn't the first time Rhea had held either the younger girl or the boy. She'd made a point to try and offer comfort to all three children, though Sara merely stared at her impassively when she did.

Feeling the need to do something, Cullen shifted and reached his arms out towards Tamassran and the boy. Tamassran's gaze was measuring as she carefully passed the crying toddler to the former templar.

The motion surprised the toddler momentarily out of his tears, and he stared with red-rimmed eyes as the strange human man holding him. He had bright blue eyes that reminded Cullen of Rhea's, though his hair was more blond than red. Still, Cullen shifted the toddler in his arms, letting himself wonder for just a moment if this child looked a little like he and Rhea's children would have if they'd been able to have children together. The child sniffled, and Cullen turned the boy in his arms and let the boy rest his head upon Cullen's shoulder, providing one of the few comforting embraces the child had felt recently. All three adults seemed mildly surprised when the boy pressed his face against Cullen's neck and didn't begin crying again.

As Rhea wrapped her arm around the girl she held and settled the middle girl in her lap, she frowned slightly. "We really do need to give them names," she said.

"I am teaching them the common tongue," Tamassran informed Rhea. "But the concept of names is still difficult for Sara or that one to accept, and the youngest is too young to pick his old name." She shook her head. "I am not one who could choose proper names for them. It falls to you, Adaar, and you, Commander."

Rhea glanced at Cullen, who was still staring in strange wonderment at the boy he held. There was tenderness in his expression and a longing that Rhea had seen before, when she'd found him watching some of the children at Skyhold.

She glanced at the middle girl who clung to her for comfort for a moment as an idea began to form in her mind. These children had never known the love that came from a 'normal' family, only the little affection that Tamassran were permitted to share with their charges. Tamassrans were well respected within the Qun, but there were always more children than Tamassrans, and individualized attention was rare. The two youngest children here were not touch starved, but they lapped up the affection the three adults, and even some of the Inquisition soldiers and scouts, gave them.

"Cullen, what was your mother's name?" Rhea asked aloud.

Cullen blinked, his brow creasing in confusion as he met his wife's gaze. "Rebecca, why?"

Rhea smiled as she looked down at the brown-eyed Qunari girl clinging to her shirt and staring back up at her. "How do you feel about being a Rebecca, little one?" she asked the girl. She repeated the words in Qunlat.

The six-year old's expression scrunched as she considered the words, then she pointed to herself and slowly repeated in a firm tone. "Rebecca."

Rhea nodded. "Yes, Rebecca. That will be your name from now on." Again she repeated the words in Qunlat, though the word 'name' didn't have a direct translation, Cullen had noticed.

Rhea saw that wonderment and the love in Cullen's eyes as he watched his wife. "Then what do we call him?" Cullen asked, nodding to the toddler that he held, rocking the little boy slowly.

Rhea's eyes grew distant for a moment before she said, "Stroud."

Cullen's eyes misted a moment and he shifted until he was sitting directly next to his wife, his thought pressing against hers. "Stroud," he said softly, noting that the boy had begun to fall asleep on his shoulder. "Appropriate."

Tamassran appraised the situation, the human man and his Vashoth wife, sitting side by side, each cradling a Qunari child in their embrace. "Suitable," she said after a long moment. She tilted her head. "You will care for them?"

It wasn't quite a question.

Cullen met Rhea's blue eyes with his amber, and knew that this wasn't just a snap decision for them. They'd both been considering the fate of the children, to themselves, over the past few days. They couldn't have children of their own, but they'd both mentioned adoption in the past. 

Maker willing, Cullen thought, perhaps this was supposed to happen. He answered for both of them when he said. "Stroud and Rebecca at least, yes. They'll be our children." His gaze faltered a moment when he and Rhea glanced towards the silent Sara, who sit sat in the corner of the tent, watching all of them but not partaking. "And Sara, if she'll have us."

"You and Adaar shall adopt Rebecca and Stroud," Tamassran said carefully. "I have listened over the past few days. You and Adaar will be busy, working for this Inquisition of yours, and you will still need someone to watch the children. I shall do so. Sara, she will need much, and it will take the three of us, and perhaps more people, before we know what path she will take." 

Tamassran glanced at Sara, and Cullen and Rhea saw the speculation in her eyes, and the hope. "But now, she has a chance."


End file.
